Fairness—or equity—is integral to God’s character and His dealings with humanity.  

"With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity." - Psalm 98:9. 

If evolution were true, then fairness would not exist as it is based on survival of the fittest, and good moral behaviour only counts as an expedient to 'perpetuate the species’.  So the fact that there is a sense of ‘fair play’ points to a higher calling for humanity than just living out animal instincts.

The enemy of God on the other hand is intrinsically unfair.  He doesn’t play by the rules.  He distorted the Word of God to Adam and Eve. He inspired false accusations against Naboth, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus. And against William Tyndale and the many saints described in Foxes Book of Martyrs.  And against many Christians today accused of hate speech for faithfully testifying to the gospel of salvation from sin through repentance.

There is another dimension to God’s fairness which goes beyond human reasoning. God is more than fair. He gives us salvation we don’t deserve (definition of Grace) and does not give us the judgment we do deserve (definition of Mercy). He receives the prodigal son back home.  He pays the worker a full day’s wage when he has only been hired at the end of the day.  He credits righteousness apart from works. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."  - 1 John 3:1

So, how should we react?  Like the unmerciful servant who has been forgiven much but then goes back and throttles someone who owes him little? No, we should adopt God’s measure of fairness.  Forgive 70 times 7. Love our enemies. Shout from the rooftops the gospel of salvation.  To do any less would not be fair.

Understanding is one of the missing elements of our modern world. There is an ever increasing quantity of information and ‘big data’, but an increasing shallowness of understanding in a growing trail of publications—hardcopy and digital.

‘Of the making of books there is no end.’ (Ecclesiastes 12:12) This verse surely foretold the exponential growth we can now see on the internet. Aside from what is being added to the pile, there is the problem of filtering. Godly discretion (noted in Proverbs 2:11) should be deployed to find godly and wholesome content, and yet, never has there been a greater danger of truth being filtered out before we see it! No longer does one see the book-burning of medieval—or Nazi—times, because secular humanist algorithms and search engines do the job without any need for a match! Daniel was warned, ‘At the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.’ (Daniel 12 :4) But such knowledge does not equate to understanding and wisdom. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor 8:1).

At the dawn of time Adam and Eve were deceived by the Serpent, whilst the warnings—and promises—of God were still ringing in their ears. How much more should we be on our guard when distortions, deceptions and the mocking of God’s Word saturate the digital world! The Word of God was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation (Samuel 3:1). How much more so today! The National Viewers and Listeners Association founded by Mary Whitehouse in the 1960s to protect children from perversions on TV is never more needed than today. A small book, written many years ago, entitled ‘Turn Off the Evil’ sums up what is needed. If we want to gain understanding and wisdom, we need discretion to spiritually filter what is being fed into our minds and the minds of our children from this world.

If we want to hear God’s voice, we must listen with unmuffled spiritual ears. And then speak to God with the understanding He has conveyed to us. We love God because He first loved us. And we can be confident that God hears and understands us from the depth of His wisdom and knowledge (Romans 11:33).

The majority of us live and work in environments with multiple other people. In fact, there is probably not one person who can say that they rely entirely on themselves to get through life. The truth is, we all depend on each other to get things done at one level or another.

Now, let’s have a little exercise.

Take some time to let the below statement settle in your mind for a moment:

Now, invert that thought:

I have the power to be present for others.

Yes, as a human being, your cooperation will almost 100% make life easier for those who are living and working around you. Just think about that. Let it settle. Feel that responsibility

YOU have the power to make life easier for those around you and by NOT cooperating with them, you will most definitely be making life more difficult for them.

If you state that you believe in something, if you state that you are a good person, if you state you want to get good grades, or do well in a project, but you are unwilling to cooperate with the people that have the same dreams, or are there supporting you – you are being false to yourself and  to them. You are essentially stunting forward motion, quality, and success.

We have all felt the frustration of making a group decision to get something done and then certain people don’t step up and take up their share of the load. Its discouraging and hurtful. On the other hand, let’s not kid ourselves, none of us are perfect,  we have all been the person who doesn’t pick up their share as well. So what can we do to stop this? How can we make choices towards constructive cooperation?

The definition of cooperation is: the action or process of working together to the same end.

1.  Do you have a clear idea of what that goal is. Have you discussed and agreed with your family, peers, or co-workers and come out with a clear understanding of what you all want to achieve. A lot of the time dysfunction is a result of miscommunication.

2.  You want to ask yourself, “Do I really want to achieve the same goals as these people?” If the answer is ‘no’, you probably need to have a rethink about your place and priorities in life. If the answer is ‘yes’ move on to the next point.

3.  (This could be the most challenging point so brace yourself), identify areas of weakness in yourself. For example – when it is time for YOU to pick up the slack, what is it that makes you want to procrastinate? Is it laziness? Is it a bad attitude towards someone? Do you not feel ready to take on the task? Are you trying to move the work away from the common goal for selfish gain? If you truly want to encourage environment of cooperation, you need to be constantly checking your own heart and integrity.

4.  Finally (and this should be after you’ve addressed you own issues), you need to confront those who are not pulling their weight. Part of being cooperative is knowing when you need to intervene to help your those around you. It’s easy to get mad and blow a fuse at someone, but before you do that – take a closer look. Think of the times when you felt discouraged, or lazy, or out of your own depth – then approach them with suggestions on how they can move towards productivity. Let them know you see what they are not doing – but give them opportunity and space to grow. 

Cooperation is about working together for a common goal, but it is also something that the individual needs to believe in, and encourage. As part of a family, classroom, or team – you have an individual responsibility to promote a cooperative attitude. If you are in a position of authority be the example – communicate well, check yourself, approach those you are concerned about (with grace). If you are  someone who is in a place of instruction, listen – follow the advice of those who are being a GOOD example, do the best that you can in your chores, or studies, or work. 

Even though May is almost at an end, making way for June, our monthly character trait—optimistic—continues to be relevant. 

If the Christian faith tells us anything, it’s that even when times are tough, God will make a way. We see this represented in the coming of the Messiah and reflected in other events recorded in the Bible. 

Let’s just take a second and think about all the times in the Bible that God took miserable situations and turned them around. Daniel trapped in the lion’s den. Joseph imprisoned in Egypt. David entrenched in his own sin. In all these situations, God made a way through. 

These are just 3 examples, and this doesn’t even scratch the surface—there are so many more. 

The Bible is a reference for times such as these. If you are feeling hopeless, you aren’t alone. So many Biblical figures also lost hope for a time—look at Elijah, curled up in his cave. 

But how did things turn around for those people? And how can it turn around for us now?

Well, the first step is humility.

One of the main reasons we feel helpless and hopeless is because we rely on our own strength. And you know what, some of us are pretty strong. We can go for weeks motoring through, filling our time with goals, strategies, and educated guesses. However, sooner or later, we run out of steam.

God, on the other hand, never runs out of steam. He is the creator of the world, and creator of endless possibilities. He is all-encompassing, all-knowing, all-powerful, the source of life, Lord of the past and future, as well as the here and now.  

So when our circuits are fried, and our monthly plan is looking like a monthly fail, we need to take the hint, let go of the thread we are hanging by, and trust in the One who can see the whole picture—God. 

When things were unpleasant for people in the Bible, we always see a turn around when they humbled themselves before God. Some of them, not mentioning names *cough*David*cough*, took a bit longer than others, but they got there eventually.

The great thing about true humility is that peace often comes with it. Setting aside our frantic need to control, letting go, trusting the Father—all these things quiet the mind; then, in that place of peace, we can stop and listen for His voice. 

And when we hear His voice, we must be obedient.

When someone tells you the truth, it is wise to listen and then act accordingly.

So many of us live under lies that undermine us—we are not skilled, we are not interesting, or we are not educated enough to make a difference.

God does not lie to us, and He never will. His truth lifts us up to places we wouldn’t think we could ever reach. It tells us how precious we are when we feel devalued, it corrects us when we are wrong, it helps us to be optimistic when times are hard. 

Do you see a pattern?

Relying on our own limited strength, causes us to believe that we are limited in what we can achieve.

However, humbling ourselves before God gives us access to options we didn’t even know we had, through His truth and unfailing wisdom.

Stepping down from our high horse and asking God to lead us, and ACTUALLY listening to His instruction, allows us access to a bigger and better version of ourselves, and the world we live in. HE becomes our source of strength and hope. Like being plugged in, rather than running on batteries.

Just like those figures in the Bible, we can make a positive difference in our various spheres, by being humble, finding peace, hearing God, and obeying His perfect instruction.

There are two spiritual realities hardwired into the human heart. One is the God-shaped hole that can only be filled by God’s love and forgiveness. The other is rebellion against any notion of needing God’s help to solve the problems of life.This rebellion has ruled through human history and brought untold suffering to individuals, families, communities and nations. It has dictated that everyone should do what is right in their own eyes. Live for now. Live for your own pleasure and fulfilment. If it feels right, do it. Within this rebellion, a sophisticated philosophy has developed, based on science being the solution to all problems. Science, in fact, provides no solution to the problems of greed, jealousy, covetousness and all the other vices that reach their extremes in thieving, killing and even genocide. In our technologically advanced scientific age, we have seen the God-denying tyrannies of Hitler, Stalin and Mao -- all using the best science at their disposal. 

At best, we can say that science is neutral. It can be a tool for good or evil. Through science, the great pyramids and obelisks were built -- but on the oppression of God’s people. Pharaoh (possibly Ramses 'the Great') had scientific knowledge but no repentance. He used his great learning to slay the firstborn of the Hebrew slaves. Another Pharaoh couldn’t bring himself to repent even in the face of devastation from the plagues. Through science, Herod 'the Great' rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple. Then, he slaughtered 2,000 babies with Roman swords (no doubt manufactured to the best technology of the day). Even the knowledge that God’s word was about to be fulfilled did not lead him to repentance. Alexander 'the Great’, when he saw the extent of his domain, 'wept for there were no more worlds to conquer'. Greed and selfish ambition are great obstacles to repentance. None of these ‘great' men humbled themselves. 

Nebuchadnezzar, though in the same league, was an exception. Though he created the great hanging gardens of Babylon, he realised his limitations and through the humiliation of insanity eventually acknowledged that God was sovereign. His successor Belshazzar (incidentally not known as the Great) had the privilege of Daniel in his court. But when he saw the writing on the wall, he ignored the warnings. Our generation can also see the writing on the wall. All can see the words of Jesus regarding the signs of His coming and of the end of the age. We are on the threshold of upheaval that we have not seen in modern times. Wars, rumours of wars (military mobilisation in the South China Sea), locust swarms across Africa, pestilence in the cities. Are we listening to the warnings?

Daniel could see the prophecy of Jeremiah about to be fulfilled. He could see the end of the seventy-year desolation of Jerusalem -- the end of exile. His response was the great prayer of repentance in Daniel 9, which should become a model for us all in these times. 

‘In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land…’

Another great model for repentance is in 2 Chronicles 7: 12-16 after the temple had been completed: 

‘The LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.’

For Naaman, it seemed degrading to go and wash in the river Jordan when he had far grander rivers in his own country. But when he put down his pride and did as Elisha instructed, he was healed. Let us all learn the lesson that repentance from sin and rebellion leads to forgiveness. Let us pray for our nation/s that the God-shaped hole, which has been created by rejection of His righteousness, will be filled again. Pray for your neighbours. Pray for your leaders. Pray for yourselves and your families to return to the Lord. Only God’s love & forgiveness can fill the aching of the human heart, can cleanse us and renew us, our families and our nation unto righteousness. 

'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' Isaiah 55:7